Landmark status recommended for Kaufmanns’ Seaspray home in Palm Beach

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A Mediterranean Revival style home with a multi-layered entryway might become the town’s next landmark.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has unanimously recommended that the Town Council designate the circa-1924 home at 434 Seaspray Ave. as a landmark. It was designed by architect and builder William B. Eckler.

“It’s a solid example of ’20s Mediterranean (real estate) boom architecture,” Landmarks Chairman Ted Cooney said after the vote earlier this month. “It’s a good part of the historic fabric of that neighborhood.”

Property records list the owners as Christopher and Andrea Kaufmann. Last summer, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a civil suit requesting that Christopher Kaufmann be permanently prohibited from consigning jewelry in the state. He has been the subject of several lawsuits the past few years that allege he didn’t pay people for jewelry they consigned or gave partial payments.

Reached this week, Christopher Kaufmann called the recommendation “wonderful.”

“We’ve been living in the house for 18 years. Not a day went by that we didn’t realize we were living in a true paradise of a property,” Kaufmann said.

A distinguishing feature of the U-shaped house is the “Romanesque-style compound arch entryway” recessed within the center block of the front of the house, according to the designation report.

Another key element is a heavy stone cornice above the three-bay front facade.

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* Also, at the Nov. 16 meeting, the landmarks board deferred at the owner’s request a designation hearing on 132 Clarke Ave. John Volk designed the 1957 British Colonial home with “Jamaican plantation influences,” according to the designation report.